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Tyler Smith, 23, was charged in December with violating the city animal care ordinance in Greenville, S.C., after a photograph was posted on Facebook of his father's dog being lowered by rope from the second-story balcony of an apartment.

According to the posting, it was time for the dog to make a call of nature, but it was raining, and Smith preferred not to go downstairs with him. [Associated Press via Post and Courier (Charleston, S.C.), 12-17-2013]

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Kyle Johnson shattered his skull so badly in a high-speed longboard accident in that ordinary "decompressive craniectomy" (temporarily removing half of the skull to relieve pressure) would have been inadequate.

Instead, doctors at McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden, Utah, removed both halves, leaving only a thin strip of bone (after placing Johnson in a drug-induced coma) and kept the skull frozen to prevent brittleness.

After the swelling subsided, they reattached both halves of the skull to his head and woke him up gradually over a week's time.

Johnson admits some memory problems and cognitive dysfunction, most notably his inability to focus on more than one concept at a time --- even when they are part of the same scene, such as two crayons on a table.

Johnson said he probably won't go back to the longboard (but would try snowmobiling). [Fox News]